Armadillo by Morning

Hello everyone! For the next while I’m going to try posting the strips at a slightly higher res. I decided to bump the dpi up to 96 instead of the standard 72 dpi for better clarity, so that you readers could enjoy the strip with a clearer, sharper picture. I hope you’ll agree that it makes a difference. You can let me know what you think in the comments section below or on the Oddly Aroused Facebook page See you in the funny papers! – Jim

Yes, I can see a difference. It’s most noticable for me in a greater level of texture and highlight detail, rather than a reduced level of rasterisation, but I wasn’t getting significant rasterisation in the first place.

In your opinion, paws4thot, does it make enough of a difference to you as a reader for me to keep doing the strips in the higher res format or is the difference so inconsequential that it’s not worth it? Just curious as to everyone’s thoughts on it.

There is a small but significant improvement. I would definitely go with the new 96 dpi.

In the Ancient Tymes of t3h Interwebz, the 72 dpi was standard because it displayed very well on 15″ and 17″ CRT monitors. The 96 dpi tends to be better optimized for modern digital, flat panel displays. That’s the web developer and content manager in me, when my hey-day was circa 1995-2007.

I say that with a caveat: that was true about 8-10 years ago with the flat panel displays as they were coming out then. I haven’t kept up on the tech now that we are moving into a hi-def, 4K age of monitors with IPS and refresh rates up to 120 or 144 Hz.

I can say this, though. I downloaded the images (current and previous strip) so I could look at them on a black background and without any other lighting providing distraction and glare. On a 2560×1440 27″ IPS monitor, a nice HP that is entry-level pro grade … and using glasses for my failing eyes … I can definitely detect some significant improvement. There are some artifacts and jagged lines that are more apparent on the previous strip that seem less noticeable on teh newer one.

Based upon that, I say definitely keep the 96 dpi, especially if it isn’t costing you any other resources. You might also want to save the files in *.png lossless compression format … the *.jpg can introduce artifacts with it’s lossy data compression. That would be counterproductive to any attempts at publishing a higher quality product. This is assuming you are using a lossless format during composition.

Incidentally, strip 033 is 355 KB and 034 is 312 KB. I’d think if you can produce *.png images under 500-600 KB you should be in a very manageable size range.

Will this make a huge difference to the general reader? Probably not in most cases. The comic being embedded in your page has other distractions, and the viewing environment (glossy screen, high-light room, etc.) will also detract. Under ideal conditions, some people who are paying attention will notice.

I also suggest that we are moving into an age of higher and higher image quality devices. Phones today can use a 1920×1080 pixel display on 5″ or 6″ of screen. The software & hardware displaying the image needs to do a bit of image interpolation to convert from your actual pixels of your published graphics to the apparent size a user experiences, which can use a significantly different pixel matrix. Meaning, different people will see slightly different things, and it is to your advantage to put a higher quality image up to begin with to accommodate a wider range of devices/configurations Out In The World.

Sonya looks a bit like that grinning Halfling Paladin from the Seely & Artaxis arc you did for Barwench tales. The big grin combined with sword & plate gives a bit of a flashback that way.

Trudy looks … just tasty. 😛 With that eye patch and hoop rings, she could do a helluvva pirate.

I will, however, draw your attention to my previous comment about monocular vision. In first panel she looks like she’s staring through the 4th wall at a fly or something crawling on the monitor surface on Sonya’s dialogue bubble. 😉

Y’know …. if you’re real attached to him ….. just some random thinking off the top of my head here:

He can show up randomly for no reason, sort of as a Garden Gnome. Or, possibly Reggie could cosplay him? Seems the size is about right.

There’s gotta be some creative way or another to work him into the Oddly Aroused universe. Some merchandise meme that won’t go away, seems to always be in every Con Sonya attends. That grin of his could get creepy if it seemed to be following you from shelves, posters, T-shirts, etc.

I don’t think any explanation other than the comments on this page would be necessary, just an ubiquitous merch character that’s Oddly Popular for no reason that people can figure out. Sort of like Hello Kitty. Random packs of kids running through the scene cosplaying him, either from a kids comic or a Saturday morning Dungeons & Dragons style cartoon.

Rub a little brain juice on it and see what fits with your storyline. He might end up being a plushie if this strip takes off at some point.